 Portfolio of
Jan Woodford
View Artist Statement
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Gallery Direct Interview with JAN WOODFORD
The Oregon coast has been the stimulus for much of Jan Woodford’s work. Her landscapes lead the viewer into a scene that exudes tranquility and peacefulness. Jan initially worked in oils but has become more and more charmed with the immediacy of pastels which allow her to show the subtlety and the soft beauty of nature
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How old were you when you realized that art was going to be a big part of your life?
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t draw. My parents always had paper and pencils available for my brother and I, and encouraged our drawing. Our drawings were fussed over and displayed on our walls. Since drawing was something I did in school and out (even when I wasn’t supposed to be) I always assumed that art was what my life was about.
I understand you moved to California at a young age and had all of your schooling there. At what point did you decide to focus your education on the arts?
Not until I was an adult, with my children almost in their teens.
I had been discouraged from continuing my interest in art when I was in Junior High, being told that “you can’t make a living at it. There are a lot of starving artists.” I was given the feeling that it was a waste of time, not worthwhile. I never stopped drawing for my own pleasure ~I drew all the time~ but I didn’t take any art classes in High School. During the first two years of college I took the mandatory Art History classes, but no other art. It was around this time that I met my husband and soon after we were married.
He was recalled into the army during the Berlin Crises and was sent to Texas. By the time we came back, we had begun raising our family. When my husband got sick I went to work for the phone company to help with finances. However, the phone company had a tuition aid plan, and I went back to school in the evenings. Besides the usual academic classes, I took art classes and creative writing. It soon became apparent to me that, while painting was a pure pleasure, I had to force myself to sit down and write fiction. That’s when I became serious about my art education. I had always felt that something was lacking. I’d always missed my art.
Through the company’s tuition aid plan I was able to continue my college education, although it seemed to be taking forever. When the company offered early retirement, I seized the opportunity to go back to college full time.
At the time you made this decision, was there any one person who encouraged or inspired you to pursue the arts full time?
My husband. Definitely my husband. He has always supported my interest in art, and encouraged me to get a degree in art, if only for my own satisfaction.
What formal or informal education did you find most useful in your career as an artist?
The art and art history classes that I took in college were terribly helpful, and gave me a broad background for the workshops that I took later on. There is just nothing like a college level art program.
You have worked in a number of mediums. Which medium is your favorite and why?
At first I loved oil painting, and still love it for painting on location. With oil paints I only have to take a small supply of tubes, and I can mix them to get whatever color I want. I find that oil painting is quick, too.
But in my studio I have come to appreciate soft pastels. I can go slowly, layer, brush off something that I don’t like, change colors easily if I’m not happy with something I’ve tried. Pastels, for me, are contemplative, and meditative. Often a pastel painting starts out one way, and then changes completely as I try different approaches. It doesn’t have to dry, and I don’t have to worry about it drying too fast to keep the soft edges I like, as I would in oil paint.
Whose work do you relate to most, and what is it that draws you to the work of this artist?
While I have never met her, or seen her work in person, I have long admired the paintings of Donna Phipps Stout. Her dramatic oil still life’s are so original, have so much to say, and are so mysterious looking. Yes, I think mysterious is the right word. I think it’s her use of chiaroscuro, and her soft edges.
Did your move back to Oregon have an effect on you and the work you produced?
For sure! In California, I’d been leaning more and more toward painting people. I thought that I wanted to concentrate on portraits. However, Oregon changed my mind for two reasons. First, I was just awe struck by the natural beauty of the area. Everywhere I looked I saw waterfalls, seascapes, forests, and rivers. I was just overwhelmed. Also, in the small town I lived in, I didn’t have the access to the human models that I’d had in Southern California.
For a long time I left people painting completely and concentrated on landscapes. Then, a few years ago, I was invited to join a group of artists called Figure 8, and eventually became the coordinator of the group. We ask local citizens of the area to pose for us, and we paint portraits from life. It’s a wonderful group of artists, with a waiting list of people that would like to join us. We have to limit the members because of space. But our supply of interesting faces to paint seems to be limitless.
Do you do some of your paintings ‘plein air’ or is it all done in your studio? Tell us what you’re ideal working atmosphere is…quiet, music, sounds of nature, or…?
My ideal working atmosphere ~ for painting landscapes ~ would be outdoors, on location, on a sunny, warm day. I love to paint outdoors, in good weather. The experience of plein air painting is an end in itself. I’ve had birds and squirrels come right up next to me while I’m sitting outdoors, quietly painting.
But I live in Florence, Oregon! That means lots and lots of rain, and even in sunny weather, the wind picks up about noon. I’ve had my easel blown right out of my hands! So my plein air painting is limited to mornings, mostly during the autumn months. If we get an occasional sunny day in the summer or winter, I may drive out to a pretty place and sketch or pastel paint in my car. I try to take advantage of different situations that come up. That’s one of the advantages of painting with Figure 8. We can always paint people inside, all year around. I also meet with a group of other artists at Old Town Coffee and Art Gallery, where we paint together every Thursday morning. It’s not a class, or even a club. It’s just a group of artists painting together, in whatever medium they wish. The proprietor is also an artist, and paints with us. I have some of my art hanging there. People wander through and look at what we are painting. Sometimes they ask questions or make comments. That doesn’t bother me at all. That also happens with plein air painting.
In Figure 8, we always paint to classical music. Lively classical, mostly, so that the model stays awake. I like to paint to music in my studio, too. When painting outdoors, of course, I love the sounds of nature. I can just forget everything else when I’m painting outdoors. We do have bears in the area, so I don’t usually paint alone. Often paintings that I start outdoors, or at Figure 8, will be finished in my studio or at the coffee shop. There is always detail work to finish.
How do you think or want other people to respond to your work?
As a landscape artist, I want my art to be a celebration of nature. Here, on the Oregon Coast, I see the handiwork of God, the first artist-every day-in the lakes and rivers, the waterfalls, and the mists that spread an elegant haze over the trees and mountains.
I’d like people to look at my landscapes and find the kind of peace that is often difficult to find in the stress of our everyday lives. I want my landscapes to be an inspiration. God made a beautiful world. I just try to imitate the beauty that he created. .
What would you say has been your greatest success and biggest setback during your career?
The greatest setback would be when, as a young teenager, I was told that art wasn’t a worthwhile occupation.
My most memorable success was the first picture I sold. Here’s how it happened: I had been taking oil painting classes for a while, and had heard about how some people painted on masonite instead of canvas. I wanted to try it. When my husband was tearing out our kitchen cupboards to put in new ones, I confiscated a piece of masonite that was going to be thrown away. It had been the bottom of a drawer. I painted an oil painting on it and took it in to be framed but was told that it wasn’t a standard size, and when the framer told me how much it was going to cost to frame it in a custom frame, I was shocked . It was completely out of my budget. I asked her what the standard size closest to the size of the painting was, took the painting home, and had my husband cut it down with a saw. Then I bought a really cheap standard frame that fit it. The framer was horrified that I had cut so much of the original picture away, but it looked fine. I entered it in a show at the library and it sold for $65. My first sale! That really encouraged me, but I would never use that cheap a frame now!
As an artist, do you perceive the world differently than other people? Why do you think this is?
After I got into oil painting, I began to put names on colors, as my husband and I were driving. I’d see a tree and say, “Look, that’s almost a greenish umber. That distant mountain is a deeper blue than ultramarine”. I’d get really excited about cloud formations. It got to be a joke in my family. One of my daughters drove across country and sent back pictures of clouds that she saw on the way. I think that artists have the desire to put what they see down on canvas or paper, to share with others.
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